Life Cycle and Habitat Requirements of Gambel's Quail

The breeding season of Gambel’s quail depends largely on the weather. After a cool, wet winter, Gambel’s quail will begin to breed in mid- to late February; initiation of breeding is delayed after a warm, dry winter, in which case Gambel’s quail may remain in coveys for several months. Gambel’s quail hens take longer to lay a complete clutch of eggs than other quail, sometimes taking over 30 days to produce 10 to 14 eggs. Both parents typically tend to broods; chicks remain dependent on their parents for about 12 to 13 weeks.

Male Gambel's quail.

Source: JeffB - Flickr CC by 2.0

Female Gambel's quail.

Source: Matt Tillett - Flickr CC by 2.0

Statewide distribution

Space

• Found at 2,500–3,900 ft. elevation

• Semiarid grasslands, bajadas, arroyos, chaparral, evergreen woodland, desert scrub, oak woodland, pinyon-juniper, riparian areas

• Adaptable to many different habitats, but prefer open ground with high woody canopy cover and few herbaceous plants

Diet

• Seeds, mast, green vegetation, and insects

• Broom snakeweed, brown dalea, crownbeard, desert willow, grain sorghum, kochia, mesquite, pecan, pigweed, prickly pear, Russian thistle, sumac, wolfberry

Nesting cover

• Nest must be shaded by forbs, shrubs, or rocks

• Cool-season forbs that support high densities of invertebrates

• Broom snakeweed, coolseason forbs, prickly pear

Brooding cover

• Small shrubs that provide shade

• Succulent forbs with high water content

• Vegetation that supports invertebrates

Loafing cover

• Overhead shrub cover at least 3 ft. tall, and may use artificial brush piles

• Catclaw mimosa, cholla, mesquite

Escape cover

• Run or fly to dense cover such as allthorn, catclaw acacia, juniper, mesquite, sumac, or yucca

Roosting cover

• Shrubs or trees with dense foliage, branching, and thorns or brush canopy at 6–16 ft. above the ground

Summary of key plants

• Grasses: blue grama, grain sorghum, sideoats grama

• Forbs: beargrass, broom snakeweed, burroweed, crownbeard, jimmyweed, kochia, pigweed, Russian thistle

• Shrubs: allthorn, brittlebrush, brown dalea, catclaw acacia, condalia, desert hackberry, desert thorn, desert willow, ironwood, juniper, littleleaf sumac, mesquite, saltbrush, scrub oak, pecan, shrubby buckwheat, triangle-leaf bursage, turpentine bush, white-thorn acacia, wolfberry, yucca

• Cactus: cholla, prickly pear